Footsie towel

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a novel body towel that combines in a single unit the conventional towel with useful feet protection. The invention accomplishes this by incorporating at one end of the body towel foot-protecting foot inserts, or “boots” constructed in a way that allows the wearer to walk when “wearing” the towel.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 63/101,387, filed on Apr. 28, 2020.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to the field of towels and inparticular to body towels such beach and shower towels.

BACKGROUND

People that spend a day at the beach or at a poolside (“sunbathers”)typically bring with them often relatively large “beach towels” thatserve both to dry off the wet body and to lay on them by spreading themout on the sand or by draping them over lounge chairs in order to createa comfort barrier between sunbathers and the often-hot sand or chairs.Moreover, and especially during very hot and sunny days, in order toprotect sunbathers' bare feet from sometimes uncomfortably hot sand orground, they will wear sandals, flip-flops or similar foot coverings, asthey walk on the sand or the ground to or from the spot at which theyare resting or sunning.

Similarly, when entering and exiting the shower, bath, sauna or thelike, the bather typically will use a towel for drying off and wearappropriate footwear, such as slip-resistant slippers or flip flops inorder to provide a safe barrier between the bather's feet and thebathroom floor. Such footwear can provide traction on an often-wet floorand can help prevent the bottom of the bather's feet from slipping onthe floor, leading to injury as he or she exits the shower, bath orsauna, and walks around. Footwear can also protect the feet from fungusand bacteria that can thrive on wet and damp floors.

Unfortunately, putting on footwear at the beach, pool and after bathingmay not always be desirable or convenient for every situation and forall age groups, and in some cases can be quite impractical. For example,walking in sandals or flip flops on long stretches of hot dry sand maybe laborious and unpleasant as the footwear sinks into the sand andpicks up sand. Moreover, once settled in at a spot at the beach orpoolside, it may be annoying for barefooted persons, especiallychildren, to have to put on footwear simply to walk or run short orlonger distances on the hot sand or concrete, such as walking to anotherperson or spot; to or from the water, or even back to their where theperson's car is parked in a lot nearby. Finally, having to weardedicated bathroom footwear just for the few minutes that a person needsfoot protection in the bathroom (e.g., just before entering and justafter exiting the shower) is an annoyance for many people and somepeople, especially kids, simply don't bother.

Thus, it would be desirable to have a solution for towel-usingbeachgoers, poolside relaxers, and bathers and showerers that eliminatesthe need for dedicated footwear for people who need for only shortperiods of time protection from hot or slippery ground and floorsurfaces.

SUMMARY

The present invention meets these needs by disclosing a novel towel thatcombines in a single unit the conventional body towel with useful feetprotection. The invention accomplishes this by incorporating at one endof the body towel foot-protecting foot inserts, or “boots” constructedin a way that allows the wearer to walk when “wearing” the towel. Such atowel would be preferably constructed such that a user could easilyinsert his or her feet into the foot inserts, and, while the rest thetowel stays “up” on or near a portion of the body in an extended state,walk on any surface, such as hot sand or concrete or wets floors withthe boots serving as an effective protective barrier between the bottomof the feet and the surface. This solution solves the aforementionedproblems and more in various embodiments.

The novel body towel of the present invention many be constructed ofmany different materials or fabrics, such as terry cloth, natural orsynthetic materials, or a combination of both. The towel may havestretching functionality throughout or may be stretchable in only partof the towel, such as at the foot insert portions.

The present invention also discloses novel foot insert or “boot”constructions and designs. For example, the foot inserts may includeelastic bands that lightly hug the user's ankles to help the insertsstay on the user's foot when walking. The bottom of the foot inserts maypreferably be non-slip, which can be manufactured into the materialitself or may comprises add-on material, such as rubber pads affixed toouter portions the foot inserts of the towel that at least partiallyalign with the bottom of user's feet when his or her legs are insertedinto the towels.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in itsapplication to the details of construction and the arrangement ofcomponents described hereinafter and illustrated in the drawings andphotographs. Those skilled in the art will recognize that variousmodifications can be made without departing from the scope of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further advantages of the present invention may become apparent to thoseskilled in the art with the benefit of the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments and upon reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front plan view of the inventive Footsie Towel™ device inaccordance with one non-limiting embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a back plan view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the inventive Footsie Towel™ device inaccordance with another non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, like reference numerals designateidentical or corresponding features throughout the several views.

In one preferred embodiment, a Footsie Towel™ in accordance with thepresent invention is shown in FIGS. 1-2. As seen in the front and backillustrative plan views of FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively, towel 100 is apreferably unitary cloth structure comprising two general areas:generally flat, rectangular, upper towel section 110, and lower section120 having leg portions 130 a, 130 b that roughly take the shape andsize of an intended user's legs and feet. Upper towel section 110preferably has a conventional rectangular towel shape for wrappingaround at least the torso of a user, taking up the good portion of, orin some cases the majority of, the surface area of towel 100. Uppertowel section 110 is defined by upper end 112, side ends 114, 116 andlower end 118, denoted by the imaginary horizontal dotted line. Itshould be understood that lower end 118 in FIG. 1 can be characterizedby (located at) any imaginary line (not necessarily straight or anyshape for that matter) distal to upper end 112, near where the shape oftowel 100 starts to depart from the rectangular. In this way, end 118simply defines a reference line between upper section 110 and lowersection 120.

Lower section 120 can thus be understood to “begin” or pick up wherelower end 118 ends and is generally defined by the area on towel 100near where, or, at which, its shape departs from the generallyconventional, 2-dimensional, rectangular or square shape. Thus, as seen,lower section 120 includes shaped, tapering pieces of towel materialthat define right leg insert 130 a and left leg insert 130 b,terminating in right foot insert 140 a and left foot insert 140,respectively. In this preferred embodiment, foot inserts 140 a and 140 btake the shape of “boots” fully or mostly enclosing a person's rightfoot and left foot inserted therein, respectively. Moreover, in thispreferred embodiment, as seen in FIGS. 1 (and further demonstrated inFIG. 3) foot inserts 140 a and 140 b may include elastic banding 142 aand 142 b, respectively, that serve to slightly engage, or grab, thewearers ankle area. This feature helps inserts 140 a and 140 b remain onthe wearer's feet when walking. However, it should be understood thatfoot inserts 140 a and 140 b need not take the shape of boots that fullyencompass the wearer's feet up to say, the ankles. In other embodiments,foot inserts 140 a and 140 b may only party cover and encompass thewearer's feet, such as, for example, in a slip-on slipper-like or a“soft flip-flop” like design.

It should also be understood that the specific dimensions of towel 100may vary with many factors without departing from the invention. Forexample, the length of upper body portion 110 may be longer or shorterdepending on the intended size of the user or whether towel 100 isintended to provide full body coverage or partial coverage. Thus, for agiven person' size (height), the preferably flat upper portion 110 maybe long enough to serve as a full body beach towel, in which case lowerportion leg 120 might dangle below the user's feet when laying on towel100 at the beach. Alternatively, for a person of given size, upper bodyportion 110 may be made smaller in length, such that when “wearing”towel 100 (i.e., with feet in feet inserts 140 a and 140 b), upperportion 110 might wrap around the body at desired points, such thatupper end 112 would wrap around and under wearer's person's armpits, oraround the shoulder and neck.

In such latter embodiments and others, it may also be desirable to affixmating fasteners, such as Vecro™ “hook and loop” strips at or nearopposite ends of upper end 112 on either side of towel 100, so that thewearer can removably secure upper end 110 around the body of the wearer,thereby freeing the wearer's hands from having to hold the upper end ofthe towel 100 up when walking. An example of this option is shown inFIGS. 1 and 2, with mating Velcro pieces denoted as patches 150 and 152respectively. In particular, as seen in FIG. 1, piece 150 might be apatch of “hooks” secured (e.g., sewn or glued) to the top right cornerof the “front” side of towel 100 from the perspective of a user“wearing” towel 100. Then, as seen in FIG. 2, mating piece 152 thenmight be a patch of “loops” secured to the upper left corner of the“back” side of towel 100 (from the perspective of the same user). Inthis way, when the user wraps towel 100 around the body, these piecescan meet and be removably fastened together. Of course, mating Velcro™“hook and loop” strips may be placed at other or additional locations ontowel 100.

Moreover, other means for securing towel 100 to a user's body may beimplemented within the scope of the invention. For example, towel 100may be secured to the body with a belt or zipper system. Alternativelyor additionally, towel 100 can be designed with an integral hoodextending from upper end 100, much like a hooded sweatshirt. With thisoptional design, a user can place the hood portion over her head to keeptowel 100 from falling off her body, thereby enabling her to walk withher feet in boots 140 a and 140 b without holding towel 100.

Other options are contemplated for the Footsie Towel™ and are within thescope of the present invention. Thus, as seen in FIG. 3, towel 200comprises upper end 210 and lower end 220. But in this embodiment, theentire outer edge 228 of towel 200 may be finished with an elasticfinish, enabling towel 200 to stretch a bit in all directions. Moreover,the bottom of foot inserts 240 a and 204 b of leg portions 230 a and 230b may include foot grippers 244 a and 244 b made of any appropriatematerial that can provide good traction for wet surfaces and/orprotection from hot surfaces.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention can also be implementedin as a two-piece towel 300 design as seen in FIG. 4. Here, towel 300may be similar in construction and features to towels 100 and 200 inFIGS. 1-3, but in this case, comprises upper section 310 that isremovably attached to lower section 320. Sections 310 and 320 may beconnected in any way that enables repeated attachment and detachment ofthese towel pieces. For example, seen here is a Velcro strip 312 securedacross the bottom edge of the front side of upper section 310 that isconnectable to a mating Velcro strip 314 near the top end of the “back”side of lower section 320 (not shown), Alternatively, mating snaps,buttons, or other removably connectable structures may be used. Thus, inthis embodiment, upper section 310 may be a standard, substantiallyrectangular beach or bath towel. This design can give the user option tokeep the Footsie Towel 300 components 310, 320 connected or detached.For example, the user may by default only use upper section 310 as astandard beach or shower towel. Then, in situations that call for footprotection, the user may access the feet-protecting lower section 320(say, by pulling it out from a bag carried to the beach or pool), andattach it to upper section 310, “on the fly.”

The system of the present invention enables a new method for a user towalk with foot protection using a towel. The method comprises insertingthe user's left foot into a left foot insert of a left leg portion ofthe towel, inserting the user's right foot into a right foot insert of aright leg portion of the towel, and securing an upper section of thetowel around an upper body portion of the user, such as the user's torsoor neck. Once the body and feet are in place, the user may walk feelingsecure that her feet have an adequate barrier from the elements, whilethe towel is wrapped around the user.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described,it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe allpossible forms of the invention. Various changes, modifications, andalterations in the teachings of the present invention may becontemplated by those skilled in the art without departing from theintended spirit and scope thereof. It is intended that the presentinvention encompass such changes and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A towel for a user, comprising: a. an upper towelsection capable of being wrapped around at least a portion of the bodyof the user; and b. a lower towel section having right and left legportions extending from the upper section, with each leg portionterminating in a foot insert into which the user may insert a foot. 2.The towel of claim 1, wherein the upper section is substantially flatand rectangular.
 3. The towel of claim 1, wherein the upper and lowersections are integral with each other.
 4. The towel of claim 1, whereinthe upper and lower sections are removably connectable to each other. 5.The towel of claim 1, wherein the ends of the upper and lower sectionsterminate in an elastic finish.
 6. The towel of claim 1, wherein thetowel sections comprise terry cloth material.
 7. The towel of claim 1,wherein each foot insert has a toe, heal, sole, top and foot opening forinserting a foot therein.
 8. The towel of claim 7, wherein the soleincludes slip-resistant material.
 9. The towel of claim 7, furtherincluding an elastic band the foot opening of each foot insert forgripping an ankle of a foot inserted in the foot insert.
 10. The towelof claim 1, wherein the upper towel section further includes a closingmechanism for removably securing the upper towel section around asection of the user's body.
 11. The towel of claim 10, where the closingmechanism is a pair of mating Velcro strips.
 12. The towel of claim 10,where the closing mechanism is a belt.
 13. The towel of claim 10, wherethe closing mechanism is a zipper.
 14. The towel of claim 1, furtherincluding a hood extending from an upper end of the upper towel section.15. A towel for a user, comprising: a. an upper towel section capable ofbeing wrapped around at least a portion of the body of the user; and b.a lower towel section integral with the upper towel section and havingright and left leg portions, with each leg portion terminating in a footboot into which the user may insert a foot, and wherein each foot bootincludes a slip resistant sole.
 16. A method for a user to walk with afoot-protecting towel, the towel having an upper towel section and alower towel section that extends from the upper towel section and thatincludes left and right leg portions, each portion terminating in a footinsert, the method comprising: a. inserting each foot of the user into arespective foot insert; b. maintaining the upper towel section inproximity with the body of the user; and c. walking.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the step of maintaining comprises wrapping the uppertowel section around and securing it to the user's body.
 18. The methodof claim 16, wherein the towel further includes a hood extending from anupper end of the upper towel section, and the step of maintainingcomprises placing the hood on the head of the user.